If the Type tool in the 64-bit version of Adobe Photoshop CS4 consistently causes crashes on your Windows PC, it's important to find the cause of your problem rather than suffering through a recurrent instability. You may be intimidated by the list of possibilities to rule out, especially if your system features a large number of installed fonts, but careful troubleshooting should let you bring your system and your software back to stable performance.
Outdated Version of the Application
- Under specific font-related circumstances, the initial release of Adobe Photoshop CS4 displayed instability running under the 64-bit version of Windows Vista. Although this problem kept the software from loading sufficiently to use the Type tool, it shows you the importance of keeping your software current and applying the updates released by Adobe Systems. In fact, tech troubleshooters usually start their attempts to help you by asking which software version you're running and recommending you apply any available patches.
Corrupt Fonts
- Regardless of your operating system, OS version and the types of work you do on your computer, you can fall prey to a corrupt font file. Crashes and freezes, type that looks as if it exploded, font substitutions when you print: all these unamusing scenarios can plague your system until you find and remove your corrupt typeface. To work your way through, the best — although not always the quickest — way to isolate a typeface troublemaker, is to disable all your fonts except for the ones required by your operating system. Activate a small group of fonts and try using the Photoshop Type tool again. When the problem reappears, you know it's caused by one of the fonts you just reactivated. Deactivate the last group and add them back one at a time until you find your culprit.
Duplicate Fonts
- Duplicate fonts can cause some of the same problems brought on by corrupt fonts. Check your installed typefaces for two instances of the same item. Even if one is TrueType or PostScript Type 1 and the other is OpenType, duplicates can cause trouble, especially if they share exactly the same name. Your system and your software don't know which to use, and the conflict causes instability. When you remove duplicates, be sure you don't deactivate typefaces that are required by your operating system or your applications.
Too Many Fonts
- If you enjoy choosing and working with type, it's easy to fall into the trap of "more is better" where font software is concerned. Running too many active font files at the same time can slow your system's performance and even tip it over the edge into instability. Deactivate typefaces you don't use frequently, taking care not to disturb your operating system's font resources; check to see whether your problem goes away.
System Tuning
- Along with font-specific problems and solutions, Photoshop instabilities can reflect a general need for system optimization and maintenance. If you're short on RAM, low on hard-drive space or using a video card with outdated drivers, you may see unexpected behavior in your operating system as well as in your applications. Remember that along with the need to give your PC room to run, you need to feed Photoshop's appetite for power. Even if your system works well in less-demanding applications, you may need to bring it up to speed for image-editing work.
